Keep Holding On
by Sakura Moon
Summary: All Ichigo wanted was a normal, average family with your normal, average boss. All she really wanted was to worry about typical high school girl stuff.


**Title:** Keep Holding On

**Author:** Sakura Moon

**Summary:** All Ichigo wanted was a normal, average family with your normal, average boss. All she really wanted was to worry about typical high school girl stuff. Not your parent's late mortgage or stressing over the fact that your boss is a jerk and is underpaying you like crazy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters and the whole legal blah.

_AN: This is a one-shot for Forever's contest._

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It was a quaint little room. In the middle was a dining table and two people; a man and a woman. Brown cabinets were hanging from the walls and a small chandelier-type lamp was placed right in the middle. The door leading from the dining room to other rooms was currently shut tight.

"We're behind on our mortgage…_again_." A middle-aged brunette threw a couple of envelopes, each with a flashing red "WARNING" written on it, on to the table.

The man next to her rubbed her hand with his. "I know dear." Lines appeared on his forehead. His hair, which was one a brilliant shine of black, was now littered with grayness. "I can take up another shift at work or even get a second job."

She frowned. "You're already overworking as it is. We don't want our daughter to question why her father isn't around that much now." Reaching over to her husband, she placed both hands on either side of his face and gently rubbed his temples. "Look," lowering her voice a bit softly, "I could always ask my great-aunt for a loan or something. Until we get back on our feet again."

Displeased by that prospect, he slammed his fist against the table. "Damnit!" Kicking the table leg, he placed his head on his hands. "You know how _she_ can be!"

"Well what do you want us to do?!" Her lips were tight as she stared hard at her husband. "Do you think I like groveling to my relatives for some money?" Tears started to form and seeing that, her husband sighed—dejectedly. "We have to think of Ichigo."

On the other side of the door, a teenage girl with red hair, had to choke back the tears that were beginning to form as she heard her mother's breaking voice. Ichigo fell down on her knees, sadden by the crisis her parents were facing…without her. As more of her mother's tears were shedding, Ichigo clutched her fists tightly. 'No matter what,' she said to herself. 'I'll help out in any way or form.' With a newfound resolve of aiding her parents, secretly or not, Ichigo quietly marched back to her room—looking for ways to get money.

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"Are you planning to go to Homecoming this year?"

"Oh. My. God. You guys can _not_ believe what just happen to me!"

"No way man. I heard that chick is easy."

Staggering in the crowded hallway, Ichigo barely managed to get to her class. Shutting the door behind her, she walked over to her seat near the window. The sky was cloudy—pretty much reflected her current mood as last night's events played in her mind.

"Ichigo!"

Whipping her head at the call of her name, her face broke out into a smile as she waved to her best friend. "Lettuce!"

Sitting down on a seat right across from Ichigo, Lettuce leaned over to her as if there was a large secret going on. "Did you just hear?" Whispering softly, Lettuce's eyes moved left and right to make sure nobody nearby would listen in to the conversation. "A group of college students from a nearby university will be visiting our class later on today."

At the supposed important news, Ichigo just plainly stared at her friend. "Is that it?"

Lettuce shrunk back a little. Thumbs fiddling, she looked anywhere but Ichigo. "Well, I just thought, you want to know since we're graduating next semester and…well, we have to apply for colleges. So I…."

"Lettuce, you don't have to apologize." Ichigo said softly, making sure her eyes met with Lettuce's. "I just have a lot in my mind right now."

Worried, Lettuce placed her hand on the girl's forehead. "Are you getting sick? Trouble at home?"

Pleased by her friend's concern, Ichigo waved her hand off. "No, it's nothing like that." Then an idea came to Ichigo's head as she brightly stared Lettuce. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know if I could find any part-time jobs?"

More students stumbled into the room as it was nearing class time. For a moment, Lettuce looked thoughtful as she recalled something. "I think…on the school's bulletin board, there was a job ad for a waitress position at this one place.

Ichigo perked up at the word 'waitress'. Being a waitress meant serving people food on the table. People leave tips on the table. Tips equal to extra cash. Extra cash meant more money. Money means helping her parents pay for the mortgage. She stood up from her seat, ready to go check out the job listing.

"Ichigo, class is starting soon." Lettuce gently reprimanded. Ichigo turned over and gave a sheepish smile. "You can go check it out later, but for now, stay seated until the teacher arrives."

Just as Ichigo was about to open her mouth, the teacher strolled into the classroom. Going up to the lone pendulum, he placed his brown briefcase on top of it. "Good morning class."

"Good morning sir."

Smiling, he continued on, pressing his glasses up on his nose. "Today we…."

After the 'good morning' speech, Ichigo's mind drifted apart from the teacher's morning news. She was too busy focusing on that lone job ab. A part of her wondered what it look like. Aimlessly looking around, it did not take that long before her eyes landed on a small school planner. Lips curling into what seem to be a devious grin Ichigo raised her hands. "Mr. Lin."

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The hallways were void of students, janitors and teachers alike. Various posters lined up on the wall, each in different sizes and color. Skipping merrily, with a hall pass in one hand, Ichigo went down the rows of posters until she stopped by at the student bulletin board. This is where people can put up posters for stuff they wanted, such as job openings in a particular place or tutoring lessons; however, it must be approved by the principal before it could be posted up here. "Now where is that job listing." Ichigo muttered to herself, tapping her finger against her chin as her eyes scanned amongst numerous papers and posters on the board.

"Aha, this must be it." She reached out to grab a girly looking poster. In the middle of the poster was a small cute strawberry cake. The headline was titled:

_**Looking for an energetic waitress for the café. Interested, contact us at…**_

At the first adjective, Ichigo couldn't helped but break into a large grin. Energetic is her unofficial name. Taking the flyer off the board, Ichigo sharply turned around and accidentally bumped into somebody. Now, following the rule of physics, her body slowly fell down to the floor. As she was falling, Ichigo didn't noticed the paper slipped away from her hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

"Maybe next time you should use your eyes stupid." The person whom she bumped into stood his ground. Teal colored eyes gave a mild glare at her. He brought up the flyer to his view. One eyebrow rose. There was a slight smirk. "Oh, you want to be a waitress?" There was no sugarcoating on the mockery.

Eyes narrowing, Ichigo promptly stood on her feet. She marched over to the blonde-haired jerk and roughly snatched the flyer away from him. "That's none of your business and you don't have to be so rude about it!"

The unknown male scoffed. "Who's being rude about it when it's probably true?"

"Excuse me?" Ichigo almost yelled, but the sight of nearby classrooms stopped her from screaming at him—she didn't want to cause a scene.

Sighing, the guy leaned against the wall. "Kinda slow aren't you." Coming out as more of a statement than a question.

Ichigo has had it with this pompous jerk who made inaccurate assumptions about her. "Listen here jerk." She roughly shoved her index finger at his chest, making him cringed a little bit at her sharp nail. "Why don't you just go away? You know. Leave me alone." She made some shoo-ing motions as an added effect. "I'm sure society will be better off with one less bastard in the world." That might be a little too harsh, but Ichigo felt pretty justified in what she had just said. After all, not only did the guy not helped her get up when she fell to the floor, he even mocked her about being a waitress, insulted her intelligence and made her feel insignificant by the way he was staring at all. Yeah, she was pretty justified in going that far.

"That may be true, but judging by how you rudely bumped into me. I say you are the type of person who doesn't watched where she's going. Not to mention insulting people rather blindly and weakly at that. Now you should be the one being rude here, not I." The male pointed out several points based on their first meeting as he retaliated.

Looking at her pissed flabbergasted expression, the male could barely hold in his composure. The petite red-head reminded him so much of his favorite pet kitty--all claws but no teeth. He was quite interested in the flyer she was holding. Very interested indeed. He wondered if this was how she always looked whenever somebody insulted her. A small smile appeared on his delicate face. One finger pointing at a nearby school clock. "How long are you going to be gone? Wouldn't your teacher wonder what's taking you so long?"

Head moving faster than the speed of light, Ichigo stared at the clock. It has been about twenty-five minutes since she had asked to be excused. "I'm in trouble." Ichigo wailed a little bit, thinking of the afterschool detention that awaits for her.

"Any longer and I'm sure your punishment will get worst." The blondie teased her, not being gentle on the threat. He chuckled softly when he saw her rushing to her class; the papers on the walls flying up thanks to the air she made. There was something different about her, something that intrigued him beside the obvious.

Another set of footsteps came up to the guy. "So that's where you have been. We've been looking all over for you Ryou." A tall brunet guy walked up to him.

Ryou gave his friend a devious grin. "Sorry Keiichiro, I was too busy talking to our new employee."

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Ichigo was lucky to get out of detention. When she had come back to class, the teacher wasn't too happy about her being gone for more than ten minutes. But all Ichigo had to say was that she was having some 'feminine problems' and the teacher went on as if nothing has happened and that Ichigo didn't really spent twenty minutes outside of class.

Hands digging through her backpack, her fingers touched every surface until she felt something paperish. Taking it out of the bag, Ichigo stared at it. The name on the flyer matched with the name that appeared on the small business building in front. "Well, here goes nothing." With self-confidence, she marched right inside the café.

Different varieties of pastel colors decorated the walls and tiles. Ichigo could not keep the astonished and awed expressions from appearing on her face. Small, cutesy, black painted metal chairs adorned the dining space as they were seated by rounded tables with a pink tablecloth on top of it. Right in the middle of the table was a small kitten décor—surrounded by pink roses and white gardenias. Ichigo could barely hold back a giggle. "How cute."

"Is there anything I can help you with Miss?"

Jumping a little, she turned around to face a young male with brunet hair. Dressed in a baker's outfit, Ichigo figured he must be the owner of this establishment. With a large smile on her face, Ichigo greeted him. "Hi. I'm Ichigo and I'm here to apply for the waitress position."

His eyes widen slightly as he took on her whole appearance. "Ah yes." Then muttering to himself as he looked away from Ichigo. "So this is her…."

Ichigo was frantic when she saw the owner looking away from her after saying that one sentence. Numerous thoughts flew in her mind. Was she not appealing? Did she sounded preppy enough? Did she come off as desperate? Then eyes widening, a light bulb lit up in her brain. Moving her hand over her mouth to look as if she was about to cough, Ichigo puffed out a large amount of air and smelled it quickly.

Nope, no bad breathe there.

Ichigo scrunched up her face. If her mouth didn't smelled bad, then maybe it was her? Why else would the owner looked away from her after introducing herself to him. Troubled by the whole thing, she inched her face close to her shoulder--where locks of red hair lay—and took a sniff at it.

"When are you free to start?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, looking like she was caught red-handed. His words echoed in her mind. Confused by what just happened, because unless she was hearing it wrong, she got the job. "Um excuse me…but did you just hire me?" Ichigo asked, looking at the baker; wondering how she suddenly got the job. She had thought there would be some type of questioning procedure or whatnot.

The baker nodded. "Yes." Then he thrust out his hand to her. "The name's Keiichiro. I manage this place."

Smiling warmly, Ichigo took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you."

Keiichiro smiled at the girl's warmth. Then pointing a hand toward the back door where the kitchen was, he said to her. "Why don't we discuss your hours? I'm sure you'll be a fine addition to the team."

Pleased by how everything was turning out, Ichigo nodded and followed Keiichiro to the kitchen; where they discussed her work schedule and her hourly wage rate as well as the benefits.

Ichigo never suspected there was another person in the room. Ryou hid in the shadows, watching them. He smiled to himself. Yes, Keiichiro was right. She _would_ make a _fine_ addition to the team. After all, she would give him some entertainment.

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"Don't forget class that your project is due in a couple of days now." Ichigo's homeroom teacher reminded his students.

Lettuce glanced at Ichigo, whose head bobbled as she dozed off. Leaning over, Lettuce's arm touched Ichigo's shoulder gently and gave it a shake or two. "Ichigo! Wake up!"

"Huh? Whazzut?" She mumbled; her eyes blinking quickly as Ichigo were blinded by the sudden brightness. A note flew on to her table. Ichigo picked it up. In it were words scribbled:

_Are you alright?_

Ichigo replied back and crumbled up the small piece of paper.

_Just fine. A little bit tired that's all._

Lettuce shot Ichigo a surprising look.

_What happened? You've been extremely busy this past week._

Ichigo frowned. It was true that she had been overworking at the café these past few days. It didn't helped the fact that Ryou kept appearing whenever she worked and breathing down on her neck with his snide and jerkish remarks. She pouted. Just why was he there at the café in the first place? Keiichiro mentioned about meeting the manager sometime this week. Then an idea occurred in her head. 'Could that jerk be…? Nah.' For a second, Ichigo had contemplated that Ryou might be the manager. But there could be no way that a guy with a horrible disposition such as his could ever be a manager of something that was so cute and have a nice employee such as Keiichiro working for him.

_Nothing, just that I've been working overtime._ Ichigo wrote back, hoping to placate her worried friend and to prevent her from asking too many questions. She rather not explained to Lettuce why she needed to get extra money.

A crumbled paper quickly flew across the air and landed on her desk.

_Are they paying you for those extra hours?_

One quick reply and Ichigo quickly threw it back before the teacher could face the class again.

_Yes. _But Ichigo knew the truth. She had just gotten her paycheck last night and hadn't gotten a chance to see it until this very morning. For some reason, she was only charged with her regular work hours. The extra hours she had done—thanks to a certain snob rich-girl of an co-worker who handed her share of the work to Ichigo—was not charged. Whatever it was, Ichigo was going to have a little talk with whoever pays her wages.

End of conversation right there as the bell rung and students quickly got up and leave. Not wanting Lettuce to question more about her part-time job, Ichigo flashed her smile to Lettuce and walked off—rather quickly. Trotting down the steps, Ichigo pushed one of the entrance doors.

"Awww crap." She said, taking a good look at the scene before her.

Heavy rain slammed against the granite pavement. The skies were dark and ominous. And she…had forgotten to bring an umbrella or a rain coat. Dressed only in her school uniform, Ichigo felt like screaming to the heavens. The constant pressure and hidden worry of her parent's finances as well as the tiredness of keeping up with school and maintaining her grades, not to mention the hours she lost because of working, Ichigo doesn't know how she could handled any more expectations she set for herself. Her eyes landed on her watch. Mouth dropping and eyes widening, she realized she only have ten minutes to get to work before she gets docked for being late. "What's a little water?" She said to herself before she began rushing down to the café, being splashed on the side by numerous cars and stepping onto mud puddles thanks to other pedestrians.

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Ryou was sitting in the employee's lounge, glancing at the clock every now and then. These past few days had been quite entertaining for him. He had taken quite a delight in teasing the newest employee. A girl by the name of Ichigo. Ryou chuckled to himself a little bit. It was quite pleasing to see that angry spark that brought her eyes to life. How her lips had the tendency to clamp tightly to form that cute angry pout. Ryou thrived on the energy of their banter together, especially when she complained about his flaws and remarks.

He figured it was high time for her to know exactly who was the manager around these parts. Ryou could just imagine that cute-tell blush that would appeared across her cheeks and her flabbergasted expression. Ryou tapped his fingers on the table. "Where is she?" Checking at the clock once more, a frown emerged.

The door busted opened and in came in a very drenched Ichigo. All thoughts of teasing her for her lateness disappeared once Ryou realized how thoroughly soaked she was. He tried not to think about the wet material that clung to Ichigo's very nice and shapely body as he rushed to get a couple of towels. "Are you blind or something? Couldn't you tell there was going to be a small rain storm today?" He plopped the towels on to her head.

Ichigo glared at him, smirking at her in all of his glory. "I didn't know okay?"

Raising an eyebrow, he leaned back. "I knew you were an idiot, but not that stupid. Guess I gave you a bit too much credit then."

Fed up, Ichigo retorted. "Listen. I'm not in the mood for our little banter ok? I was busy this morning and so I forgot to bring an umbrella. Any normal person can make that same mistake."

Ryou ignored her wishes and pressed on. "You were busy? With what? School projects and stuff? All you have going for you right now is to be a good little high school girl that you are."

"Why are you even in this room in the first place?" Ichigo snapped, glaring harshly at Ryou.

Smirking once more, Ryou uncrossed his arms. "Why, I have every right to be here. After all, I'm your boss."

"You're joking right?" There was a look of disbelief on her facial features as she plainly stared at Ryou.

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm serious on this one." Ryou said with a stoic expression.

Looking through her backpack, Ichigo shoved her paycheck to his face. "How come my pay is low?"

Ryou sighed wearily as he took the paycheck and glanced at the number again. "What are you talking about? This is standard."

"Standard? What about my overworked hours?" Ichigo asked, her voice rising a little bit.

"You only get paid doing your own work. Not someone else's." Ryou answered, crossing his arms while staring down on her.

Ichigo stared point-straight at Ryou. "Well can't I get a small raise or something? Like an extra quarter to my hourly wage?"

Ryou shook his head in disagreement.

"Why not?"

"Because, I rather not to." Was all that Ryou said, though thinking about it, he figured that was probably not a smart thing to say.

Ichigo was mad. Mad as hell when she heard that. "I'm being underpaid now for doing additional work that, if I might say, none of your other waitresses seem to do. Even worse, you're not giving me additional wages for my overtime?"

He was getting sick of hearing her blab about wages. So Ryou decided to go straight to the point in his next question. "What? You need more money to spend on?"

The words 'money' and 'spend' finally broke the dam that was holding in all of Ichigo's stress and pressure. She had to go through a torrent of rain and being wet only to endure something like this. No, Ichigo felt like she had to leave. "Ok, you know what? I had it. I'm sick of you messing me around. I'm sick of all of this!" Tears started to form at the corner of her eyes as she recalled all the teasing and the constant eavesdropping on her parents at the middle of the night.

Ryou was taken back by the forcefulness of her words. He didn't mean to take it that far. To have push her to the point where it looked like she was breaking down. Somewhere in his heart, something died. He reached out for her. "Ichigo I—"

She back away when she saw his hand coming at her. "No. Don't even touch me." With that said, she ran out of the café and back into the pouring rain.

Ryou only watched as she ran out. From the other side of the door, Keiichiro stepped in. He was looking at Ryou with such disappointment. "I told you, you shouldn't have teased her like that."

"I didn't expect she would run out like that." Ryou tried to defend himself, especially the rising guilt that was eating up a large part of him.

Keiichiro sighed at the childish attitude Ryou was spouting. "Better go after her and apologize. It looked like she must be having one of those days."

Ryou didn't need to be told twice. He was already out the room and running in the pouring rain; searching for her.

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"Stupid jerk. Why did he have to be so mean?" Ichigo was still running, bumping into various people and nearby objects. At the same time, she wondered why this guy has such a large effect on her. With all of his teasing, it shouldn't have gotten in to her, but yet it did.

The rain beat harder. She failed to notice the goose bumps that appeared on her skin. Failed to notice the wrapped coldness around her body. Failed to notice the incoming car that was coming for her as she unknowingly crossed the street.

"Ichigo!" A male's voice yelled and the next thing she knew, she found herself being slammed to the pavement and a larger body on top of hers.

Ichigo blinked a couple of times, then looked up at the person aboved her. "You!" She spat out venomously.

Getting into a sitting position, Ryou pulled Ichigo over his lap and wrapped his arms around her. When he saw that she was about to get hit by a car, panic seized over him and with speed that he never knew he possessed, he managed to save her in a nick of time. "I'm sorry." He murmured in her hair. Repeating that phrase over and over again.

Stupefied, Ichigo moved her head to look at Ryou. His expression was something that she could not describe, not without doing it justice. Her eyes widened when he tenderly brushed her bangs away from her eyes. She could feel the warmth that came from him. Moving closer to the source of the warmth, she heard him repeating himself of "I'm sorry". For some reason, she knew that this moment, their relationship with each other would be different.

Grabbing the front of his shirt, Ichigo caught his attention. Teal eyes stared at her brown eyes. Leaning her head against his chest, she muttered. "Thank you."

With those words, Ryou tightened his hold on her, bringing her even closer to his body. All he know was that she has to be in his life somehow. No matter what.

The two stayed in their position, ignoring the fact it was raining and many other pedestrians were giving them weird looks. Realizing that both of them would get really sick, Ryou stood up—carrying Ichigo in his arms and walked back to the café.

Surrounded by Ryou's warmth, all Ichigo could think of was that maybe, all she had to do was to keep holding on. The obstacles her family is facing, the drama that is school life and the fun troubles at work…she figured she could balance all of them somehow. Ichigo took a sneak glance at Ryou. Somehow…that jerk will be there, every inch of the way.

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**AN:** Ok, I know it was a bit of rush between those two, but I had to remind myself this was suppose to be a one-shot. So please pardon any grammatical errors you might see since this is unbeta'd at the moment. Hopefully within a couple of weeks, I'll have the edited version and I will replace this with that.


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